


I know you've suffered, but I don't want you to hide (The Undisclosed Desires Remix)

by Fluffypanda



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-10-27 23:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17775953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffypanda/pseuds/Fluffypanda
Summary: When Steve gets injured on a mission, Tony has to consider what he really wants.





	I know you've suffered, but I don't want you to hide (The Undisclosed Desires Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shadowolf19](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowolf19/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Undisclosed Desires](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17172443) by [Shadowolf19](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowolf19/pseuds/Shadowolf19). 



A glop of special sauce escaped Tony’s burger and landed on his lap, startling him out of staring through his inbox to the smear of ketchup at the corner of Steve’s mouth. The projection vanished, leaving just Steve’s concerned look.

“Here,” said Steve, pressing a napkin to the spot entirely too close to certain interested parts of Tony’s anatomy.

“No, I’ve got it,” Tony said, his voice cracking a bit as he pushed Steve’s hand away.

He needed to get it together. He was acting like a teen with a crush. Bad enough he went and caught feelings for Steve of all people; he didn’t need to add humiliating himself into the mix.

“Sorry.” Steve winced and shook his head, his lips twisting into a wry smile. “Of course.”

Tony wanted to kiss that expression off his face.

Instead, he groaned internally and stuffed the rest of his burger in his mouth. This was such a bad idea. If there was anything he learned from his split with Pepper, it was that relationships involving him didn’t work. A little infatuation wasn’t something to jeopardize the team over.

“JARVIS, what’s the ETA on those parts?” Tony asked as he finished wiping up the mess.

[The fabricator is operating at 80% efficiency and the parts currently being manufactured will be complete in approximately 3.7 minutes.]

“Thanks for lunch, Cap.” He crumpled up the napkin and burger wrappers and tossed them in the trashcan under his desk. “I’ve got to get back to work.” He turned away, already lining up the necessary tools in his mind.

Steve stopped Tony with a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been up all night, you should really get some rest.”

“Not if I want to have a suit the next time we’re called out. The last four missions blew through my suits.” There wasn’t a functioning repulsor between them.

“You’re going to burn yourself out.” Steve gently squeezed Tony’s shoulder.

Tony shrugged Steve’s touch off a little regretfully. “Sleep can wait a few more hours. I promise, once I’ve got a new suit lined up, I’ll hit the hay.”

“A few cat naps at least—”

“I got it, I got it,” Tony said, waving Steve out the door. “By the way, you’ve got a little something.” Tony tapped his own face before the door slid shut.

 

* * *

 

The alarm went off, and Tony nearly soldered through the piece he was working on. He put his tool down and removed his googles.

“JARVIS?”

[There appears to be a situation just off the coast of Sweden that requires the team’s intervention, sir.]

“Damn.” The suit was still a good five hours away from completion, more if he kept up the sloppy soldering job. “Connect me to Cap.”

Steve’s image flickered to life in the air in front of Tony. Next to him, JARVIS pulled up the information sent from the Swedish government. “Tony?”

“What’s the sitch, Cap? Can it wait a few hours?” Tony was already reading through the information.

“I don’t think so. We’re not entirely sure what’s going on, but we’ve got a research vessel taken hostage by suspected Hydra operatives and sightings of creatures too ugly to be sharks patrolling the water around it. An hour could make all the difference, we’re gonna have to go without you.”

Tony frowned, but he had to agree with Steve’s assessment. If the target here was one of the scientists aboard the vessel, then they could be gone before the team got the quinjet in the air. Hydra could be nasty, but Steve had plenty of experience with them and five-sixths of the Avengers, plus Steve’s pal Wilson, should be more than enough to take them on.

“The nerve of them, having a party when I’m grounded. Go crash that thing and show them what happens when you don’t invite the cool kids.”

Huffing a laugh, Steve just said, “Sure thing, Tony.”

 

* * *

 

Tony listened to the comms line as he worked, with streams of information from the quinjet’s feeds, news channels, social media, and secret government communications scrolling past in the background. He relaxed a little, hearing the familiar pre-mission chatter.

That calm lasted until the team made contact with the enemy. Hydra packed some pretty high-powered weaponry, likely adapted from Chitauri tech, but the real problem lay in the water.

It turned out that the not-sharks Hydra deployed were closer to not-narwhals, with long tusks protruding from their heads and sticky pads on the end of their clawed limbs that helped them climb. So, maybe they weren’t exactly like narwhals either.

Thor called up a storm to the clear the water of the creatures, but dozens of them surged up the sides of the ship. Wilson did his best to pick them off from above, but he contended with fire from the Hydra goons. On the bow the Hulk tossed the creatures off right and left, smashing some of them against the deck for good measure.

Pressed between Hydra and their creatures, Steve went down.

It was difficult to tell exactly what happened. One moment he had his shield raised high, the next he just disappeared from view, lost in a swarm of the creatures attempting to tear him apart while half the team shouted into their comms.

Tony was stunned into motionlessness for a second, then begun work anew, scrapping his previous plans. All he was looking to do was rig the bare minimum together, enough to get him there.

Panic clawed at Tony’s chest as he furiously connected joints and wired the systems together. Then JARVIS’ voice broke through the ringing in his ears.

[Sir, Captain Rogers is aboard the quinjet, Thor and Agent Barton are remaining behind to assist with clean up, but the rest of the team is returning.]

 

* * *

 

Bursting with nearly restrained nervous energy, Tony paced the area just outside the landing pad. He was barely aware of the two members of med bay staff that waited just inside, too worried about Steve to spare them a thought.

How badly had he been injured? All Natasha would tell him was that Bruce and Sam were treating him. The quinjets were pretty well equipped, but it wasn’t an operating room. What if it wasn’t enough?

Tony’s head shot up at the sound of the quinjet’s engines. The aircraft circled around the building to come in for a landing.

When it finally touched down, Tony ran out to meet them, ushering the med bay staff up the lowered ramp. They wheeled Steve off the quinjet in a stretcher. Sam ran alongside, pressing down on Steve’s abdomen with a blood-soaked towel. As they passed, Tony caught sight of countless hastily dressed scratches covering Steve’s skin.

Tony hastened to follow, but Natasha stopped him short.

“Don’t,” Tony said through gritted teeth and tried to go around her. “I have to be there.”

“And do what exactly?” she asked, blocking his path again. “He’s in good hands. Or was all that bragging about only hiring the best just talk?”

“I wasn’t there today! Being there now is the least I can do for him.”

The harsh look on her face softened. “Steve doesn’t blame you for staying behind.”

“What if I do?” The admission was a blow. Like a switch had been flipped, all the energy went out of him, and he felt like he’d gone toe to toe with a tractor trailer—without the suit.  

“Come on, we need to talk.” She linked her arm in his and headed for the common living room.

“Wait here,” she said, depositing him on the couch.

He needed to get up and go find Steve, but he didn’t have it in him to move. A few minutes later, Natasha returned with two steaming mugs. She handed him one and settled into the chair adjacent to him. Tony inhaled the sweet scent of warm, honeyed milk and took a sip.

“How long?” she asked, swirling the spoon in her mug.

Tony blinked at her. “How long what?”

“How long have you known you’ve been in love with Steve?”

Tony spluttered into his drink. “What?”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” Tony shook himself awake as his eyes began to slide shut.

She looked down at her phone. “He’s in surgery now.” She slipped it into her pocket. “He’s going to be just fine.”

“What did you put in this?” he said through a yawn.

She took the mug from him and guided him to lie down. “Just milk. Now, sleep.”

“You don’t fight fair Romanoff,” Tony mumbled.

“You only just noticed?”

 

* * *

 

Only the hazy glow of city lights lit the room when Tony woke, shining in from the windows on the far side of the living room. Clint snored from a few feet away where he was draped over the armchair.

Steve.

Tony kicked off the blanket that had appeared from somewhere with his heart in his throat. He ran to the bank of elevators and hit the call button several times in rapid succession despite knowing it wouldn’t make a difference.

“Take me to the Med Bay.”

[Certainly, sir.]

Tony passed the nurse on duty, who merely shushed him before going back to his work with a sigh.

Lying in the hospital bed, partially covered in a grey blanket. What the hell were they doing with his funding if they were covering patients with sad blankets?

Steve was too pale, even for him. Faint lines across his skin from where the creatures attacked, already well on their way to healing. They had taped an IV to the inside of his elbow and clipped a monitor to his finger.

Steve always seemed like an unstoppable force, plowing through anything standing in his way. Tony forgot that for all his strength, he could still get hurt.

“I love you.” The words slipped out all on their own.

Tony let them hang in the air a moment, the momentousness of them only just striking him. He really did love Steve—the stubborn set to his jaw when someone tried to convince him he was wrong, his earnestness about everything from the democratic process to picking up litter, and above all his smile when Tony managed to tease one out of him. Tony blinked, tears clinging to his eyelashes, and turned to go.

Then a warm hand caught his, pulling him back. It was Steve, staring up at him with heavy-lidded eyes.

“Wait,” he rasped as he clung to Tony’s hand.

Tony’s mouth fell open. “You’re awake.”

“What you just said—” Steve began as he tried to tug Tony closer.

“Forget it,” Tony said, attempting to back away to a safe distance. Not there was a safe distance for this sort of thing. “You nearly died, I think I’m allowed to—”

Steve didn’t let him finish. “Go on a date with me.”

“What?” Tony stumbled.

“Go on a date with me,” Steve repeated like he just said something perfectly normal and reasonable. “I want to take you to dinner.”

“Wha--why?”

Steve smiled beatifically and said, “Lots of reasons. Go to dinner with me and maybe I’ll tell you some of them.”

Tony held out for a few seconds, but eventually he relented under the force of that smile. “Fine, but you’re paying.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”


End file.
